Lunchboxes
by ncfan
Summary: It wasn't much of a start, but Kirabi figured he'd get better about kids as time went on. Kirabi x Yugito friendship.


Just a short, pointless oneshot. The ages I've designated to the Raikage and Kirabi in relation to Yugito probably aren't canon anymore, but ah well; the age I've given Yugito isn't exactly canon either. And to clarify on their ages, in this oneshot, Yugito's six, Kirabi's sixteen, and the Raikage is twenty-six.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

Kirabi comes in close contact with Nii Yugito for the first time when she is six and he is ten years older.

"I'm hoping you've got another mission you can give me."

"_Again_, Kirabi?"

"Yes, again. It gets boring in this city quick, and you know it's not like there's a whole lot of places I can go where they'll actually let me in."

The young Raikage glares at his younger brother, propping his face up on his fist. "You need a hobby," he tells his brother flatly.

Kirabi grins at him. "You bet, niisan."

Just at that moment, the door to the Raikage's office creaks open. Kirabi frowns; Ē isn't supposed to have any appointments that afternoon.

A young child, a small girl with long blonde hair, and pale blue, slanted eyes steps into the room with a feline grace that belies what must be her short years. She is dressed entirely in black, apart from the white wool scarf at her throat; even the cloth on the hitai-ate at her temple is black. Her eyes are cold and glassy, her face rigid.

She bows elegantly at the waist, keeping her eyes downcast. "Raikage-sama."

Ē's face immediately assumes a businesslike impassiveness. "Nii-san. Your mission was a success?"

_Mission? _Kirabi exclaims mentally, thunderstruck and faintly disbelieving. _That little kid's running missions? Alone???_

The girl doesn't miss a beat, cool and professional; the air seems to chill slightly when she speaks. "Yes, Raikage-sama."

"Good." She doesn't move, straight-backed and stiff. After a moment, Ē realizes that she is still there. "You may leave, Yugito."

She bows her head, "Raikage-sama," and silently backs out of the room, her feet making no sound against the polished wood floor.

The moment she leaves the room and Kirabi is sure she's out of earshot, he promptly explodes with curiosity. "Niisan, who the hell was that kid?!"

Ē looks slightly surprised that Kirabi even has to ask. "She's Nii Yugito."

Kirabi frowns. The sunlight pours in slants into the spacious room; he realizes that after she has left, the air is much warmer. "The old Raikage's daughter?"

"And your fellow jinchūriki. That girl had the bad luck to have to play host to the Nibi." The Raikage of course had sealed the Nibi into Yugito when she was a toddler; Kirabi knew that much. "You've never met her? She's lived here ever since her father died when she was a baby."

Kirabi shrugs uncomfortably. When he thinks about it, he can remember occasionally seeing a small girl child flitting around the compound. She was always visible just out of the corner of her eye, deliberately trying to avoid drawing attention to herself. She always seemed a bit out of place in the compound. "Yeah, I've seen her around. I didn't realize she was the host I'd heard about. I just thought she was maybe one of the councilors' kids."

The Raikage dips his pen in ink, returning to his paperwork. "I'm surprised you never tried to seek her out. I thought the two of you would have had a great deal to talk about."

Kirabi holds up his arms defensively "Now look. You know I don't do well with kids."

"Yes, this I know _very_ well. Now get out of my office before I have to kick you out myself."

Kirabi decides at that point that it may be a good idea to let himself out.

Once outside, he heads for the familiar roof. Kirabi is bored, and sitting on the roof for hours at a time is just what he needs.

.

It has rained recently; Kirabi hates rain. Frankly, he hates getting wet to begin with, so he was relieved when the storm passed and he could go back outside.

The garden in the Raikage's compound is strangely gray. There are no bright flowers there; the only flowers are in shades of white, such as pale lilies and irises. The brightest things there are the blue roses. Kirabi traipses the stone path, looking for that daily peace that he seeks in order to bring some sort of normalcy to his life.

He won't deny that it has never been easy being a jinchūriki. He has known all his life that he will always be set apart from the rest of the village, and that with the position of being a host comes the state of being an outcast.

As Kirabi walks along the path of the walled garden, he spots a black blob behind bunches of lilies. Curious, he steps over to the place where the black blob is, and sees little Nii Yugito huddled against the wall.

She is leaning against the wall, her skinny knees pulled to her chest. The bandages around her long silver-blonde hair are fraying slightly, and her large eyes are drooping.

"Kid." The girl doesn't answer. "Oi, kid."

Yugito looks up. Her face is pale and strangely gaunt; she seems nothing short of exhausted. "Hello," she murmurs.

"You're Nii Yugito?" Kirabi demands.

She nods. "And you're the Raikage's brother, aren't you?" The girl looks up at him with a gaze Kirabi isn't sure a six-year-old should be wearing.

Kirabi shakes off his unease, telling himself that though she may be a host, with all the baggage and danger that goes along with it, she is just a little girl. "What's up with you, girl? Why do you look so tired?"

Yugito doesn't shrug or try to wave it off like normal children would. She stares at Kirabi with a disturbing blankness that makes him shudder and unexpectedly makes the teenager feel a slight amount of worry. "I've been training. It makes me tired."

Kirabi winces. He will never know why he said what he says next. Maybe it's because Yugito wears an exhausted facial expression that he is all too familiar with, or maybe it's just because he's feeling generous. Kirabi is truly un-fond of kids, but he supposes he might as well make some sort of exception in this case.

"Look…You wanna head back over to my apartment and get something to eat? It's about lunch time anyway." If there's anything Kirabi knows from experience, it's that hosts have large appetites.

She frowns uncertainly for a moment, wide eyes—Kirabi realizes that her pupils are vertically slitted like those of a cat—filled with a mixture of hesitation and emptiness, before slowly nodding. "Sure."

It wasn't much, but it was a start.


End file.
